Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-07-01
ashingtpn Stanaara
THEH0UsE ON THE MARSH;
THE MYSTERY OF THE ALDERS.
CHAPTER ~.

CHAPTER ".
Nice Young fellow that" said Mr..
Rayner. As soon as the other was out
OF ear-shot Handsome, frank and
good-natured. He is worth all the rest
of his family put together. Father
self-important, narrow minded old SIM
pleton; mother-ill-dressed vegetable,
kept alive by sense Of her own digni
ty as the penniless daughter of an Earl;
sisters-plain stuck-up nonentities;
younger brother-dunce at Eton. But
they haven't been able to spoil Lau-
renee You don't understand the rustic
mind yet. Miss Christie. l assure you
there are plenty of people in this parish
who have condemned me to eternal
punishment because play the violin"
"Do you play the violin? Oh, l am
20 fond of it,
"Are you? Poor child, you had bet
ter not acknowledge the taste az long
~ you remain in this benighted spot;
they class it with the black art. How
ever, you shall hear my violin some
evening, and give me your opinion of
it,
As we entered the garden gates l
saw a woman's figure on our right. l
gould not recognize her on account Of
the darkness, and only guessed it was
Mrs. Rayner. The idea of those great
weird eyes watching me made me I'M
comfortable. Mr.. Rayner did not look
that way and left me in the hall. going
to his study. while l went into our little
schoOl-roOm to put my church service
away.
The French window had not been
closed, and walked up to it to see
whether the rain had come in. The
sky was still heavy with rain-clouds, 90
that it was quite dark indoors. and
while l could plainly see the woman
had noticed stepping over the flower
beds on the lawn. and making her way
to the front of the house. she could not
see me. When she came near enough
for me to distinguish her figure, 1 saw
that it was not Mrs. Rayner, but Sarah.
the housemaid. l stood rather in awe
Of this woman; she was SO tall and SO
thin. and had such big eager eyes and
such curiously constrained manner.
She was only few steps from the win
dow where stood completely hidden
BY the curtain, when Mr.. Rayner passed
quickly and caught her arm from be-
hind. She stopped short with sort %
gasp.
What were You doing in the shrub.
berry just now, Sarahr" he asked, quiet.
~. If you want to take fresh air in
the garden, y0u must keep to the lawn
and the paths. BY walking over the
beds you do damage to the dOwers-
and C yourself. II you can not re.
member these simple rules, you will
have to look out for another situation. :"
She turned round sharply.
another situation! Me!'
''Yes, you. Though should be sor.
~ to part with such an old servant,
yet one may keep a servant too long"
''Old! ] wasn't always Oldr' she
broke out, passionately.
Therefore you were not always in
receipt of such good wages as you gel
now. Now go in and get tea ready.
And take care the toast is not burned
again"
1 could see that she glared at him
with her great black eyes like . tigress
at bay, but she did not dare to answer
again, but skunk away cowed into the
house. was not surprised, for the
tone Of cold command with which h<
spoke those last Insignificant words in
spired me with a sudden sense of feal
Of him, with feeling that was face
to face with an irresistible will, such a
I should have thought it impossible fol
ight-hearted Mr.. Kayner to inspire.
The whole scene had puzzled me .
little. What did Sarah the housemaid
want to stand like q spy in the shrub
berry for? How had Mr.. Rayner seen
and recognized her without seeming t.
look in that direction? Was there any
deeper meaning under the words thai
had passed between them7 There was
suppressed passion in the woman.
manner which could hardly have beer
stirred by her masters orders to keeE
to the garden paths and not to burr
the toast; and there was . hard de
cision in Mr.. Rayner's which had
never noticed before, even when he wa
seriously displeased. II he were Il
speak TO me in the tone that he had used
to Sarah, felt that should run away
or burst into tears, or do something
equally foolish. At tea-time Mr.. Ray
ner was Us bright a. usual, and laugh
ingly declared that they should nevel
trust me to 90 to church by myself
again.
That night I pondered Mr.. Reade',
warning to me to leave the Alders, bu
! soon decided that the question wa.
quite impractical For, in fact, Their,
was no tangible reason l could offer fol
Reade had limited At SO vaguely coult
not be mentioned SO long as they ex
listed only Is his suspicious. My fathel
was dead and my mother had been lef
with but little to live upon. She hat
been glad to accept an offer to superin
tend the household of brother WHIT
had recently lost his wife. My uncle
] knew. would give me home while
sought . situation, but experience hae
taught me how few people wanted tn,
services OF "A young lady aged eight
cen who preferred children unde
twelve" Besides, what bad recon-
mendation it would be to have left m,
first situation within . month. So
decided to remain where I certainl,
sas. on the whole, well of.
The next morning / could not hel,
noticing how much better was look
ing than when / lived in London. In
stead Of being pale had now . pinl
color in my cheeks, and my eye
seemed to look larger and brighte
than they used to do. After min
ute's pleased contemplation Of m,
altered appearance ! turned from IL
glass In shame. What would m
mother say II she could zee how vail
her daughter was growinga Withou
another look l went down stairs. MI
Rayner was alone In the dining-room
He put down his newspaper and smiles
at me.
"Come into the garden for a fey
p. minutes until the rest Of the family q
sembles," said he; and I followed hin
to the lawn.
The morning sun left this side Of tn
+ house in shade. The birds were twia
tering in the ivy, the dew was spark
ling on the grass and the scent Of tn
flowers was deliciously sweeh
"Looks pretty, doesn't it?" said MI
Rayner.